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In Lansing today, Orr to lawmakers: We're counting on $350M in state funding

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr met with state lawmakers in Lansing Tuesday to urge approval of $350 million in state funds to help bring the city out of bankruptcy.

Orr told reporters he felt the “grand bargain” — $816 million in pension contributions pledged by private foundations and the Detroit Institute of Arts, as well as the $350 million from the state — was in “very good condition,” and that he hopes a deal can be reached sooner rather than later, because the state funding is built into the plan of adjustment.

“We’re counting on this,” Orr said.

Throughout the morning, lawmakers filed into Gov. Rick Snyder’s ceremonial office in the state Capitol, where Orr held a series of meetings. Snyder was not in Lansing today.

Orr met with several Senate Republicans, and then with House members from Detroit, followed by several House Republicans. He was then set to meet with House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall.

It is his discussion with Bolger that lawmakers called the most critical.

Bolger recently reiterated his demand that the unions contribute financially to the plan.

Orr said he did not think it was his role to tell Bolger to back off that demand.

“I’m here to explain the plan that I proposed,” Orr said. “My focus is on my plan.”

Orr said he is “agnostic” on the question of whether the unions should contribute financially to the grand bargain, saying he was in Lansing to explain the plan of adjustment.

“We’re reaching deals with both our creditors and our unions that we think make sense, that … we think they’re committed to and we’re committed to, and we’re going to continue to try to do that,” Orr said.

Rep. Fred Durhal Jr., D-Detroit, said he thinks Bolger will have to back off his demand for union cash as part of the deal — something he doesn’t think Bolger will do.

“We have a problem,” Durhal said.

Durhal said he doesn’t think the votes are there now to approve the $350 million deal, but he said people are talking and he thinks lawmakers will eventually approve the funding.

Durhal said the unions have taken cuts in benefits, salaries and work conditions.

“I think they’ve sacrificed enough,” Durhal said. “I think it’s time for some of us who wear suits and ties up here to do what we need to do to make sure that the largest city in this state is going to be viable, flexible and able to make it.”

Rep. Harvey Santana, D-Detroit, said Bolger’s demand puts a wrinkle in the negotiations and that he would also ask Bolger to back down from that position.

Santana encouraged conservative lawmakers who might be viewing the vote through a political lens to look at the data — and at where things stand now.

“Politics and bad decision-making is what led us to this situation,” Santana said.

“There’s a lot of moving parts, there’s a lot of room for error if we’re not careful,” Santana said. “I think that we are on solid ground to be able to pull Detroit out of bankruptcy in the next couple months.

“We cannot afford to let the city of Detroit go down the drain because of partisan politics. This is the time to act like statesmen.”